/* */ Beulah Bee: Miss Henrietta Strong

July 01, 2014

Miss Henrietta Strong

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I always begin a collage by using an image with strong personal appeal and when I stumbled upon the image that inspired this tag, I was awestruck!

I'm not a youngster (I've been around the block a few times, so to speak), but I had no idea that poppy seed heads could, under the right circumstances, dry to reveal such a mesmerizing, skeleton-like structure.

I also liked this image of Miss Henrietta Strong (found here). Her all-white court costume gives her the eerie (and intentional) look of a living porcelain doll.

The butterfly was cut from a magazine and altered by cutting down it's size and adding some white paint. I liked that it's structure resembled that of the poppy seed head.

The background paper is from Idea-ology (Destinations Paper Stash) and the edges were embellished with a 3D paint called Scribbles.


I'll close by sharing a quick tip when working with collage elements that I find quite helpful--it's called encasing.

To protect your paper elements (like Henrietta or the butterfly), it's a good idea to cover the front and back with a clear medium before adding them to your composition. That way, they are protected from later abuse when using image transfers (poppy seed head) or further tinting. It's also much easier to paste down delicate pieces because the medium strengthens them.

My inspiration came from this week's SSS Monday blog challenge where the theme is white and I'm linking it there.